CHIMIMPORT EXPANDS
Bulgarian diversified holding Chimimport bought a 20 per cent shareholding in TatInvestBank with headquarters in Tatarstani capital Kazan. Plans are that Chimimport raises its stake to 65 per cent, Russian news agency Prime-Tass reported. The value of the deal was not disclosed. A few days earlier, Chimimport became majority owner of Itil, a major Tatarstani insurer, which has the Kazan Airport among its clients. Russian observers say the takeovers are part of a strategy to win a long-term concession on Kazan Airport. The concessionaire, to be selected after a public tender, will be expected to overhaul, modernise and run over a 25-year period.

REVERSE BRAIN DRAIN SCHEME
The Bulgarian Employers and Industrialists Confederation (BEIC) has drafted a reverse brain drain programme, deputy chair of the association Sasha Bezouhanova told Dnevnik daily. The programme envisages the setting up of a recruitment agency to headhunt for Bulgarian emigrants as well as mid- and top-tier specialists from neighbouring countries. Sectors with labour shortages will be given priority, Bezouhanova said. In the week ending October 5, employers’ organisations called on the Labour Ministry to assist businesses in “importing” workers. Ilia Keleshev, the head of the Machine Building Sector Chamber, said the machine building sector was among the hardest hit in terms of workforce. He said a number of companies in the sector had been on the lookout for workers in Macedonia, China and Vietnam, where salaries were comparable to or lower than in Bulgaria.

CIGARETTE PRICES UP?
If the Government raises excise taxes on tobacco for 2008 as planned, prices for Bulgarian cigarettes could go up by as much as 1.05 to 1.20 leva a package, Yulii Manoilov, representative of the National Union of Tobacco Producers said on October 7. A packet of cigarettes produced by Bulgartabak would cost between 2.75 and 3.90 leva. This price level would increase tobacco smuggling from the current 25 to 30 per cent to 45 to 50 per cent and the losses for the treasury would be 750 to 800 million leva, mediapool.bg quoted Manoilov as saying.

BELENE
Bulgaria’s second nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube will be built according to schedule, Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov told journalists on October 6, just days after a key deadline in a tender to pick a strategic investor was postponed by two weeks, Darik Radio reported. Bulgaria’s state-owned power grid earlier extended the deadline for preliminary bids to October 15, at the request of the short-listed bidders, who said they needed more time to prepare. Speaking during a visit to the Belene project site, Dimitrov said that the process was still on schedule and the strategic investor that will buy 49 per cent in the company that will build and operate the power plant will be chosen before the end of the year.